This has been on my other penname for some
time, but I decided to transfer it here, to my more used one.

Long
before "Endure" was even conceived as an idea, there was this: my
favorite piece of writing that I poured my heart and soul into.
Written 6-21-04, and revised now. This is "Frozen", and please, be
gentle.

The
inscriptions had warned that who ever could read them would be
trapped for eternity in the cold, frigid, unforgiving world. She
didn't know how she had gotten there, but once the words began to
take shape, the chains had formed. Like crystal snakes, they clamped
to her wrists and ankles, forcing her to the ground, onto the wheel
of scripture. She had struggled against them, pulling away from their
icy bite until blood began to flow, yet still they held their deathly
grip. She had fought them, clawing away until her fingers bled, and
her nails ripped off, but still they held fast. Finally she had to
give up, succumbing to exhaustion and cold.

That
night was Hell in frozen form. The wind whipped her body, embedding
icicle needles into her skin. As she struggled for breath, each gasp
of air was like fire in her lungs. Tears began to flow, instantly
crystallizing, freezing her lashes together. She shivered violently,
each blast of icy wind causing her to roll with in her own skin. She
pressed herself against the stone, hoping to evade the wrath of the
cold. Finally it became too much for her, and all she could do was
wail. Huge sobs escaped her, floating away, smothered by the angry
wind and the snow. All night, she just screamed and screamed.

The
morning came, but brought little comfort with it. The wind ceased its
endless howl for a few blessed hours, leaving the snowflakes to kiss
her body gently with feathery torture. Her entire body was numb, a
lethargic block of human flesh that shivered from time to time with
convulsing shakes. She knew not time nor had the ability to dwell on
the thought. All her icy cranium could grasp was the present. The
future- an eternal life of solitude and torture- was too painful to
even speak of. And so the girl lay, eyes sealed shut, yet still
seeing, mind numb, yet still alive enough to know that it should be
dead. And so it went for days

In
time, a few animals came along, struggling blindly through the
tundra, exploring her curiously; another warm body to shiver against.
She ignored them, shunned them, feared them, knowing that if she were
to become warm again, human again, she would suffer as much as she
did that first night. And so the creatures moved on, and eventually
left forever. The girl was alone in her barren wasteland. Alone to
embrace the cold and isolation forever.

Days,
weeks, perhaps years passed, and the girl was faintly aware of
herself. This brought no consolation however, for she knew that no
one else was aware of her, no one even knew she existed. The girl was
gone- forgotten and alone. She was beyond living yet couldn't die.
As each second passed, her body screamed its protest at being alive,
wailed as her frozen blood flowed freely. But nothing stopped the
torture, not even death. Indeed, how could one be dead, when no one
even remembered that you were alive?

She
had a dream that the sun visited her once, and she shunned him.
Still, she could not stop his warm embracing touch that traveled down
her body. Try as she might, the girl could not shake away the thought
of hope and salvation. The sun caressed her skin gently, whispering
heated words into her ear, passionate words of survival. But all too
soon, clouds gagged the sun in black, and those words were lost to
the jealous wind.

That
night brought pain barely conceivable to the human mind. Mad with
envy, the wind clawed at the girl's body like icy lions running
rampant. Snowflakes whirled to the ground, sadistic dancers watching
her torment. Her eyes, glazed shut, were only aware of the darkness
that had befallen on the land; darkness that suffocated her in a
strangling embrace. Her ears heard only the wind's cruel and angered
roar. It lashed at her again and again in icy fury. But worse than
that was the realization it brought.

"You're
alone. You will be alone forever." It hissed, over and over
again. Try as she might, the girl could not ignore it. Finally, the
emotional and physical pain became too great to bear. Raw, animal
screams were heard, resonating across the tundra. It took the girl a
few seconds to realize that this cry of inhuman pain and
heart-wrenching fury was coming from her. And she couldn't stop it.
She screamed in pain all night.

Night
and day now blurred together in unbearable torment. The wind had yet
to give up it's fight, and the girl was slowly slipping away. She
just wanted to give up, to die cold and alone. But something wasn't
letting her.

Suddenly
the girl stopped writhing. Her eyes, small padlocks of frozen tears,
sprang open. They blazed a deathly blue, colder than the snow itself.
She watched the wind now, like a snake amused at its prey. She
laughed, a bone rattling sound like tree limbs snapping from ice, and
sneered at the sky.

"Fool."
she cackled. "To think that you can kill me off. To think you
can defeat me. You can't defeat what has already lost! You captured a
human, but you are left with an icicle; a frozen lump of human flesh
that no longer knows how to feel. I need no one, nothing. I will stay
here until the end of time, and I will melt when the earth is
destroyed in a blazing fire from Hell, and I will do it with a smile
on my frozen lips. I will triumph. I will win. I already have won.
The cruel joke is on you. You can't kill something that is no longer
living. YOU CAN'T FREEZE ICE!"

She
screamed these last words into the wind with violent ecstasy. The
wind howled with rage, but it could not drown out her cruel, mocking
laughter that lingered in the air.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.